Transcription Doc

Case Study: Fenix

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Video 1

Speaker: Dr. Shibani Belwalkar

Shyamal, Director of Operations at Phoenix, a hypothetical company, admits that she was rather
rattled when Shilpa, one of her high performers who had worked at the pharma giant for close to
20 years, the last five of which were in a new role at Phoenix, announced her plans to retire. That
was a moment of panic.

Shilpa had a complicated job. She worked on government contracts and compliance issues, and
she was very good at digging into details. In fact, she also had relationships with a lot of key
stakeholders. Losing that could be very difficult.

With Shyamal’s approval, Shilpa applied for Phoenix Easy Exit Program, which allows tenured
employees to work part-time for six months at full pay, till such a time that a replacement is
found, particularly for critical positions.

Her application was granted. “Phew! That took the pressure off me, because Shilpa’s primary
responsibility during that time would be to on-board her replacement in a high-quality way,” said
Shyamal.

Shyamal quickly identified Vikas as Shilpa’s successor. Shilpa opted to work three months full-
time and then have three months off at full-time pay.

In light of the scheduling issues, Shilpa offered to take some of her time off earlier, so there
would be more of an overlap with Vikas. “Shilpa was flexible, and that really helped make that a
positive experience for us,” said Shyamal.

Under Shyamal’s supervision, Vikas and Shilpa soon began working closely on a transition plan.
They used Phoenix Internal Knowledge Transfer Tool.

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Shilpa created a reference for Vikas that detailed the access codes he would need, information on
how to write reports, and the names and contact information of relevant internal and external
colleagues.

Shilpa also facilitated meetings with Vikas and each of the key stakeholders. This was a way to
introduce him into the people and the system and the issues.

Shilpa’s paid leave was up in December, and she recently delivered her laptop and company key
cards at a department potluck. She told us we could call her any time with questions.

An organisation’s culture reflects every aspect of how the organisation operates and how work
gets done. In the quest for sustainable performance, ensuring that culture is fit for the future is a
high priority for many organisations.

Findings from recent survey research also show that culture challenge or culture change is big up
on the list of HR priorities.

What do we mean by organisation culture? The total of actions, conversations, and behaviours in
an organisation. The way things are done around here.

Phoenix had a strong focus on culture, and of course, on people. So much so that they regularly
brought people together from different offices to interact with each other, to push the overall
unity and provide them with fun events and training.

Phoenix had a culture of collaboration and collegiality as well. Shyamal always dedicated extra
time and efforts for employee development. She was still ready to understand her team members’
problems and tried solving them. She believed in dedicating time to these constructive activities.

Two years ago, she had been handed over the responsibility of the operations function as an
Operations Director. She seemed to be sailing well. Her predecessor, of course, had documented
policies and procedures, and that had a really tight ship.

Shilpa was Shyamal’s most trusted employee and dependent on her judgment and execution skills
for several high net worth projects.

Vikas, a hard-working employee, took charge as assigned enthusiastically. He began unearthing

some discrepancies and inefficiencies very quickly in the way operations was being run. He found
loopholes in the systems and processes.

The teams had many complaints against Shilpa, particularly in the way she had handled appraisals
and performance improvement plans. Memos had been issued multiple times and team members
had been discouraged from voicing their opinion.
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Shilpa had apparently created silos and encouraged competition between teammates, to the
extent that they were all vying for her attention and inner circle. They undercut each other and
they ensured that the credit was given to individuals, not to the teams.

When Vikas took over this position, he would have never predicted that he would find such a
dilemma of such nature.

With about 800 employees across branches in India, Phoenix had a good reputation and had often
been featured amongst the top 200 companies to work for by a leading global surveyor of
organisation cultures.

When Vikas had agreed to take on this role, he had assumed there would be lots of room to grow
and progress, and several people had told him that he was lucky to get Shyamal as a boss to work
for.

Vikas had spent 8 years in this firm and he had worked the ropes across departments. An IIM
graduate, he had a pedigree education and immense ambition.

Motivated by a desire to change the dynamics of the pharma industry and to become a more
sustainable and conscious industry, Vikas had brought about some extraordinary changes.

In his role as an intern several years ago, though, he had rubbed people often the wrong way. He
had received accolades from the management though, including the prestigious President’s
Award.

His stark opinion of right and wrong, black versus white, with no areas of grey, had alienated
many. They had looked upon him as something of a crusader, a rebel. Much of the time, a rebel
with no cause.

He had indeed brought about some concrete changes at Phoenix. Vikas had also created a
network of like-minded pharma change makers, through connections and alumni. The group was
relatively active and made some serious commitments to bringing about change in the industry.

In fact, some of their recommendations were also made to the ministry and those had been
considered for changes.

This group of change makers had exposed many malpractices and labelled several pharma giants
as key players in this malpractice. Vikas had spearheaded this group and had, since then, shot to
fame in the industry.

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Now, upon taking charge, the first few weeks itself, Vikas was unnerved. This was certainly not
the same company he had been working for all these years and had been so passionately involved
in.

The values were absent, the culture was not one he was willing to subscribe to, people were
unenthusiastic, and generally fearful.

He felt trust was missing and there was no transparency either in communication between team
members. Everything seemed to be documented to protect each other’s interests rather than
sharing information.

The scheduling and the costing functions mainly had unhealthy teams. They had indulged in a lot
of bickering and many good employees had quit the organisation, citing office politics in their exit
interviews.

Why had that not been brought up in team reviews? Vikas wondered. There were no managerial
comments in the follow-up actions. The subsequent exit interviews also remained blank, with no
words or feedback on the reasons for exit.

Vikas was alarmed now. How long had this been going on, he wondered? And why had HR not
done anything about it?

As he was wondering about each of these and his new role, he kept a keen eye to observe
behaviours and nuances which would give him more insights into the extent of this challenge on
hand.

He went about looking at the employee list in the departments. Almost every third hiree had been
a reference from Shilpa herself. They had cleared the interviews with her and had been hired into
her team. This explains it, he thought.

The interview process itself seems to be warped and lopsided. Vikas began recording his
observations. One by one, he tried to figure out what is going on for all these years.

Shilpa had created a sub-unit within the company, he thought. She had created a network of
trusted supporters and had ensured her vendors are happy and were not on the radar of any
investigations. Vendor management was always easy bait, right, Vikas thought.

Three proposals were always procured, as was the policy at Phoenix. But all three would be from
vendors he believed were sponsored by Shilpa herself. The vendors would in turn decide who was
going to benefit from the contracts.

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Shilpa would rotate contracts between these vendors in such a way that no one contractor
received more than one contract in a year.

Strangely, the price quotes were reasonable, Vikas observed, and no extra allowances seemed to
spot the P&L account. But the method seemed extremely unfair and unethical to Vikas.

Video 2

Speaker: Dr. Shibani Belwalkar

Vikas now decided to approach Shyamal with his revealing observations. He asked for her time
and felt it was best to speak with her before sending off an official email.

Doesn’t she know about any of this? He wondered. Why has she been quiet all these years?
Maybe she is involved as well. He decided he was going to be as honest as possible and have an
honest conversation with Shyamal immediately.

Vikas began talking about the values of Phoenix as soon as he spoke to her, all the while
observing her reactions. Shyamal seemed relatively calm and normal and was acknowledging
what Vikas mentioned.

They spoke about the culture of the firm, the future of the firm, and as they indulged in light
dialogue about some of the company’s achievements and high-performing employees, Vikas
decided to bite the bullet.

“Shyamal,” he began, “I have some disturbing information. My first few weeks in this role were
terrific and Shilpa was very encouraging, and the handover and induction was fantastic. However,
subsequently I have unearthed some rather troubling facts,” he continued.

He described the discoveries one after the other, listing his observations and detailing the
hypothesis. Fifteen minutes later, he paused, expecting an intense reaction from Shyamal. What
he got, on the contrary, was a very damp response, followed by, “Let me look into this”.

Several weeks had gone by ever since that fateful conversation between Shyamal and Vikas. He
kept wondering what’s going on and why hasn’t he heard back from her.

What about the next steps? He decided to confront her again. And when he did spot her in the
cafeteria near the coffee machine, he accosted her. “Shyamal, what about that?” “What about
what?” she replied.

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“The conversation we had a couple of weeks ago. What about that? The discrepancies I observed,
the vendor management data, the exit interviews, the feedback, all of it” Vikas almost shouted.
“Calm down, I am working on it,” and saying so, she turned her back on Vikas and walked off.

Vikas was fraught with despair and concern. Not one to let things go so easily, he decided that it’s
going to go against his value if he didn’t speak up, and he thought of his next possible action.

He decided to talk to Raman, the Business Head of Phoenix. Next week, Raman was returning
from his vacation. Raman was very popular, of course, and had a great reputation in the industry
as well.

Vikas had met Raman a couple of times, but he believed that he had left an impression on Raman.
He was confident that the matter would get attention.

Looking for the right opportunity at an office party, Vikas nudged his way towards Raman, who
was deep in conversation with Mani, the CFO.

As he started getting closer, he made eye contact with Raman and walked straight up to open the
conversation.

From the corner of her eye, Shyamal observed him. “Hi Raman,” Vikas started. “I was hoping to
talk to you about something rather difficult and critical, even though this may not be the right
time. I did want to share this with you as soon as possible, which is why I am taking this
opportunity. Could we speak briefly?” Vikas whispered.

Raman looked at him with surprize and said, “Of course, of course. What is it about? Is everything
okay?” Vikas narrated his findings in a brief focus on the vendor mismanagement.

He offered to share all his data with Raman in the form of a report, to which Raman said, “Have
you spoken to Shyamal about this?” Vikas answered in the affirmative. “So, what does she have to
say?” Raman questioned.

Just before Vikas could respond, Shyamal walked up to the two of them. “Oh, is this about the
vendor management system, Vikas? I told you we would be setting up a meeting about that soon.
Couldn’t you have just waited for a while?”

Saying so, she whisked Raman away to another corner to complete their conversation. Vikas was
really let down. He decided he is not going to give up, and he is going to type out an email now
as a follow-up action with a copy to Shyamal.

Hopefully, he said, that will put it on record. “There is something amiss in all of this.” He began in
his email addressed to Raman, marked to Shyamal.
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He elaborated the values of the organisation, the culture, highlighted some of the discrepancies
against those and the problems he had surfaced with regards to the basic DNA of the firm, and he
finished his email feeling rather pleased that he was not letting the matter slide away to oblivion.

But he didn’t know that this was an absolute pivotal time in his career. He paused on the send
button. Just before he clicked on it, he wondered. Was he overestimating everything that
happened? Was he drawing some conclusions which may not necessarily be warranted? He
thought about all of this.

Video 3

Speaker: Dr. Shibani Belwalkar

Let’s look at the OCEAN framework to explain part of Vikas’ behaviour, OCEAN. Vikas clearly was a
conscientious worker, but he also did possess a little bit of neuroticism, which can be explained
from his behaviours in the case study.

He would lose his temper at mismanagement. Discrepancies were not very well accepted by him
and he was a person of very high values.

In fact, he also seemed to not get along with a couple of people and rubbing them the wrong way
in case his way or his ideas were not met.

Shyamal seemed to be an open person. Maybe that explains why she very often was questioning
what hypothesis Vikas was drawing.

What can we understand about Vikas personality using the Johari window? What can we
understand about Raman and Shyamal as well?

The Johari window talks about an open area, a facade, a hidden area, blind spots, and eventually
areas of your personality which are unknown to you and to others. Well, some blind spots.

The way he was analysing the issues on hand revealed the fact that he was jumping to
conclusions. He was assuming a lot of elements. He seemed to also want to direct the
conversation in the pattern he wanted it to flow in.

He seemed to be a little restless and should have had patience to understand what are the
different elements and angularities to every issue on hand.

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Jumping to conclusions was his blind spot. Not just that, but being open to understand the
relationship of other employees with the organization should have also played an impact or a role
in the way he was deciding the course of action to have taken.

He underestimated the role of power as well. Should he have accused Shilpa the way he did?
Should he have actually written that email out to Shilpa and to Raman?

How do you think Vikas should have effectively managed Shyamal and Raman? Did it make sense
for him to challenge authority and hierarchy in the way that he did, particularly with Shyamal?

Was it right for him to have accosted Raman right in the middle of the party and had a
conversation with him, especially in the light of not having heard back from his immediate
reporting boss, who was Shyamal?

Managing power and politics in the organisation is extremely critical. Creating networks of
supporters is pertinent.

Vikas should have clearly understood that Shyamal was taking her time in reverting to him and
responding to him. He should have had a lot more faith and trust in her abilities to understand the
situation and resolve it. That is, first of all, it was Vikas’ hypothesis.

What kind of biases do you observe in this situation? Do you think Shyamal had some biases, and
did Vikas have biases?

Of course, using the Johari window earlier, Vikas could have identified his blind spots in the
process. But in this case, the biases were clearly impacting his decision-making point as far as
Shilpa was concerned, and the fact that he did not trust the due diligence that was being done by
the organisation in large.

He didn't trust Shyamal's authority either. He almost believed that the industry was marred by
malpractices and the culture at Phoenix was also falling in the same line.

What do you think Vikas should do to improve this situation? What is the role of a manager in
building a culture of an organisation? Should Vikas pause and consider the different elements that
he's raised, or should he send out that email and bring Raman and Shyamal into the picture to
decipher what was going on?

Thinking about the different elements that were involved in his hypothesis, Vikas should actually
pause and take a deep breath in figuring out some of the nuances of the decisions that had
happened. Linking everything to one point in question is incorrect.

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Giving credit to tenured employees is important. Understanding the reasoning behind decision
making is important. All of these are marks of great line managers.

Unbiased opinion, credit, credibility, each of these will have a role to play in the way Vikas
interprets the decisions that Shilpa had done in the earlier phase of the organisation.

Both employers and employees go through different stages in their careers as they progress
through the organisation. The needs of each stage of the job are different and warrant different
perspectives and demands.

The relationship between leaders and employees is based on interdependence though the leader
enjoys most power.

Sometimes, however, the imbalance of power causes counter-dependence, aversion to authority,

or even over-dependence.

Employees influence their leaders in many ways. They control the culture of the organisation as
well. However, there could be pockets of different cultures within the firm, not necessarily aligned
to the overall culture of the organisation.

How do you think the relationship between Vikas and Shyamal was at the initial phase? And do
you think the relationship was healthy and robust because there was mutual trust? Do you think it
actually deteriorated because Vikas questioned Shyamal's authority?

Shyamal had been fairly supportive of Vikas and had ensured that he had received the right kind
of inputs at the right point in time. She had offered Vikas growth in his career as well. He had
been mentored by Shyamal and had received visibility and credit when required.

Most of his success had been on account of the opportunities presented to him by Shyamal. That
meant Shyamal was patient and nurturing and had been considerate.

Then what changed? The coldness between Shyamal and Vikas brewed after their first interaction.
Vikas had gone there with preconceived notions, wanting an instant answer and reaction to his
dilemma.

Shyamal may have seen this as a knee-jerk reaction by Vikas. Shyamal was in an established
stage of her career and Vikas was in the advancement stage. He had to prove a point about what
he was doing. His promotion, his reputation, all were at stake.

The relationship between Vikas and Shyamal was strained by the time that they had reached the
conversation with Raman.

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The leader-follower relationship has mutual interdependence, but generally the leader has higher
power than the subordinate.

The leader-follower relationship has mutual interdependence, but generally with higher power
with the leader, in this case, Shyamal.

Employees who figure out how to leverage their boss's power are usually the ones who can
advance the farthest.

Rebelling against the boss may not always be the best way to move forward, especially when the
boss is a seasoned and established member of the organization with many supporters and awards
to his or her credit.

Vikas had a strong reaction to Shyamal, but a milder response to Raman. Consider your
predisposition to authority. When have you faced authority in the wake of a crisis or a situation in
which you felt weaker?

Vikas was feeling anger and resentment to the way Shyamal had reacted. But, had he got to the
bottom of the reasons for her reactions? Maybe there was more than what he was reading into.
Had he read far into the incremental changes that he had observed? Was he far too judgmental in
interpreting what he had seen?

Using this case study, we can actually analyse the OCEAN framework on Vikas, Shyamal, and
Raman. We can understand the Johari framework with Vikas. What are his blind spots, his façade,
and his open area?

We can also understand organisation culture and subcultures, power and politics, and the role of
networking, and finally, how do you create a very high performing team using the team manager
or the line manager to create certain functions that set the tone of the team?

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